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LOVE OVER THE GENERATIONS (PART II)

The part one of this Story "Love over the Generations" has been written by Siva Subramanian as a part of blogging activity by Chennai bloggers club. Click hereto read Part I of the story.

Prabakaran and Samantha were all excited to get back to
Pondicherry. Anita was planning for surprises online that she could offer her
grandparents on the eve of their 50th wedding anniversary. Kevin
joined in giving his choices and opinions over the planning of a surprise.

Elsewhere, back at Pondicherry Geetha and Shankar were
excited to hear that their son and daughter-in-law were making their journey
back. Geetha, who was in her early 70’s had planned to go for local Sunday
market shopping to grab all the required groceries and itineraries her son
liked so that she could do it all by herself before he could come. There was
that bit of joy and happiness in her over the return of her son.

A day to go for their 50th anniversary, Geetha
was at the kitchen making coffee for Shankar as she was speaking about some old
memories that she had about their early days of marriage. That’s when she heard
the door bell. Shankar who was sitting in the hall reading newspaper made his
way to the main door and opened it, Geetha came from behind. They were
wondering who this young Indian looking girl and a foreign guy were.

“Thatha, Namaste” Said Kevin, and Anitha followed ‘Namaste Thatha, paati’.

Geetha and Shankar were so happy to see Anita, Prabakarn and
Samantha followed their way and took blessings from the elder couple before
stepping inside.

Geetha and Shankar took over and ensure that the two couples
settled down with time. She made coffee and breakfast for all as Samantha
helped her mother-in-law.

Following their breakfast, Anita and Kevin made their way
out into the city, while Samantha was busy having long talks with her mother in
law.

Prabakaran joined his dad who was busy watching a game of
Cricket.

Kevin and Anita returned late night in a cab with a couple
of party planners who got the apartment ready in a couple of hours. There were
fancy decorations around, old photos of the couple and moments from their fun
filled vacations.

“What’s the need for this dear?” Sankar asked.

“Its okay Thatha, we all love you and this is just a small
gift of happiness” Kevin answered.

The grand cake cutting happened the was followed by photo
sessions.

Anita and Kevin had planned for something else as well, and
it needed all to be at the beach situated behind the house .

There was a bonfire, and there were chairs around it.
Shankar was desperate to know about Kevin and Anita.

While Anita and Kevin
were explaining their love life, Prabakaran and Samantha held their hands.

“See dad”, Prabakaran added ‘Kids these days have grown up
to make their choices’ I still remember the way you chased me when I opened up
to you that I had loved Samantha who was my classmate back then”

“Tell us more uncle…” Kevin requested.

Prabakaran narrated “It was a traditional ritual here that
we marry people from our own caste. While, I was a Hindu, and Samantha was a
Christian, we had been neighbors earlier and also classmates since school. I
always had a liking for her and it took college for me to tell my love for
her.”

“We lived in a secret relationship for over 2 years and one
fine day I decided to break the bubble and tell it to my parents.”

“Appa was so angry that he chased me down the whole colony
and trapped me indoors and whipped me down. I still didn’t give up despite amma
explaining a whole lot of things to me’

“ Just as I got my job in Chennai, I decided to call
Samantha there and we secretly got married, making it a tough task for amma-appa
to accept us. The relatives made it tough and within no time we moved to Paris
over my transfer and have been celebrating love in a lovely city. Amma- Appa
were here for a decade before deciding to come back to Pondicherry to find
peace”

Samantha had tears in her eyes as she spelled parts of her
journey with prabakaran and how Anita’s birth Changed things.

The eldest couple of the lot had tears but was happy to see
their son and family happy.

Anita requested her grandparents to share moments from their
love life and that’s when Shankar opened up.

“ Our marriage was love cum arranged marriage, I met Geetha
a day before our engagement, and I fell in love with her. There were 6 months
between my engagement and marriage and I could not sleep a single night without
seeing Geetha”

Shankar continued “There have been days, when I dressed like
a beggar and went to her house to only have a glimpse of her while she would
make the beggar sit and serve them . There have been days when I took a monkey
in hand as a tribal person. I have been a clown and what not for her.”

“Those 6 months were the longest period of my life… we soon got married and had our first child,
sadly God took it back from us. Then Prabakaran was conceived, we brought him
up with utmost care and love and today we are here together”

Wow, that’s an amazing life story to hear thatha, Anita
spoke as she moved towards her grandparents and hugged her.

“Well, lets celebrate now” Prabakaran said as Kevin and
Anita were building up the fun for their grandpartents over the night.

It was till late morning 3 that the couples were at the
beach, till Shankar called it off to make a way back home.

Kevin and Anita saw the two elder couples make their way
while they decided to hold hands and move towards the beach to wet their feet.

Kevin looked at the love across the generations and understood how there were different ways each generation shared their love. He decided to pen it down in his next book

Anita and Kevin spent their time
amidst the waves till sunrise.

Kevin returned back to Paris and soon wrote a book titled
“Love over the Generations” which was doing good in the market and had been nominated
for a few book awards. He couldn’t have thanked Anita enough for having taken
him to Pondicherry where he learnt the real meaning of love that he deciphered
in his book.